22''> THE VOYAGE. ^TAT. 22. [1832. 



voyage, now that the small disagreeable parts are well-nigh 

 forgotten, I think it far the most fortunate circumstance 

 in my life that the chance afforded by your offer of taking 

 a Naturalist fell on me. I often have the most vivid and 

 delightful pictures of what I saw on board the Beagle pass 

 before my eyes. These recollections, and what I learnt on 

 Natural History, I would not exchange for twice ten thousand 

 a year." 



In selecting the following series of letters, I have been 

 guided by the wish to give as much personal detail as pos- 

 sible. I have given only a few scientific letters, to illustrate 

 the way in which he worked, and how he regarded his own 

 results. In his 'Journal of Researches' he gives incidentally 

 some idea of his personal character ; the letters given in the 

 present chapter serve to amplify in fresher and more spon- 

 taneous words that impression of his personality which the 

 ' Journal ' has given to so many readers.] 



C. Darwin to R, W. Darwin. 



Bahia, or San Salvador, Brazils 



[February 8, 1832]. 



I find after the first paee I have been writing 

 MY DEAR FATHER, to my sisters. 



1 am writing this on the 8th of February, one day's 

 sail past St Jago (Cape de Verd), and intend taking the 

 chance of meeting with a homeward-bound vessel somewhere 

 about the equator. The date, however, will tell this whenever 

 the opportunity occurs. I will now begin from the day of 

 leaving England, and give a short account of our progress. 

 We sailed, as you know, on the 27th of December, and have 

 been fortunate enough to have had from that time to the 

 present a fair and moderate breeze. It afterwards proved that 

 we had escaped a heavy gale in the Channel, another at 

 Madeira, and another on [the] Coast of Africa. But in 

 escaping the gale, we felt its consequence a heavy sea. In 



